I help neighbors cut through the confusion.

I am Deborah Massey. I live here and I work here, and for years I have been the person friends and family call when something from Medicare arrives in the mail and nobody can tell them what it means.

It started with a neighbor who had been told — twice — that her diabetic shoes were not covered. They were, once the right note went into her chart in the right words. She had spent two years in shoes that hurt. That is the kind of thing that made me want to do this on purpose instead of by accident.

So now I do two things. I help people understand their Medicare options — when to enroll, what their plan actually does, whether their doctors and prescriptions are covered. And I help people with diabetes get the shoes and the testing supplies they qualify for, including the paperwork that makes it happen.

I am not a doctor, and I am not going to give you medical advice. I am not an insurance company either, and I will never tell you something is approved before it is. What I will do is read the rules properly, ask the questions nobody asked, and keep following up until you have a straight answer.